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Many Robocalls Are Scams

Unsolicited sales pitches are meant to defraud consumers

By

Jennifer Waters

Aug. 24, 2013 8:44 p.m. ET

Have you heard this before? "Hello! The FBI estimates that there are three break-ins every minute and urges you to take steps to prevent this from happening to you. If you allow us to put a small sign in front of your home, we will install a security system at no charge to you."

It's the introduction to one of many annoying daily robocalls millions of Americans receive on landlines and, increasingly, on cellphones.

Some are legitimate, but sales calls like that mostly aren't. For now, short of filing complaints—and you always should—there is little you can do to stop them. But you can avoid answering the calls. And new technology may be coming soon that could intercept them even before your phone rings.

"It doesn't matter if you're on the Do Not Call List," says Lois Greisman, associate director of marketing practices at the Federal Trade Commission. "A lot of them are fraudulent calls and people who engage in fraud are not going to abide by the Do Not Call registry."

It's big business. The Justice Department estimates that U.S. consumers get bilked $40 billion annually. The FTC is logging 140,000 to 200,000 robocall complaints monthly and has tackled the bad guys through 100 lawsuits over the past decade, which has prevented billions of calls from being made. Congress also is calling on telephone carriers to find a technology solution to blocking the millions of daily calls.

A robocall is what you hear when you answer the phone from an autodailer with a taped message, sounding like a robot. Millions of calls are made instantaneously and could be targeted directly at you or totally at-random dialing that stumbles upon your number.

If the call turns out to be a politician or a charity, their solicitations are lawful. You might also get robocalls from your children's school informing you of canceled classes, an airline warning you of a flight delay or a doctor's office reminding you of Tuesday's appointment.

Those are legal because you gave them permission. But sales pitches you didn't knowingly give your written OK to aren't.

Here's how robocalls work: In the call above, the robo continues with, "If you're interested in a free security system, press 1 now. If you want to be put on the Do Not Call list, press 9 now."

If you press 1, the call could go dead, which likely means your number has been fed by the lead generator who alerted someone who will call you a minute later, an hour later, days later or all of them. Your action has let the lead generator, who is being paid to find potential buyers, know that your number is "live" or working.

Pressing 1 might also transfer you to an aggressive sales associate. Be ready for a hard sell, which might include asking for more information like your name and address. You might then get directed to another live person asking for credit-card information to cover the shipping costs of your "free" security system. They might offer add-on services that will add on costs.

Or you could be transferred to a courtesy robocall that will thank you for your interest and inform you that someone will be getting back to you. That opens the flood gates. Now you're on a hot list. The same could happen if you press 9.

"You have expressed interest and your number is on one list or a number of lists," Ms. Greisman says.

Should you encounter such calls, file a complaint at the FTC's donotcall.gov site.

By as early as mid-September, you should be able to connect to Nomorobo.com for a service developed by software programmer Aaron Foss, who won $25,000 in the FTC's challenge for a robocalls solution. By signing on, free, calls that come into your phone also are directed to Nomorobo's smart service, which analyzes frequency and blocks calls on a black list of known offender numbers. It isn't 100% foolproof, but it's an extra layer of protection.